I had the privilege of sampling Climax Brewing's Hoffmann Helles straight from the carbonation tank at the brewery. Dave Hoffmann, owner and head brewer, was nice enough to come in one evening, give me a tour, and let me sample some of his beers. There's nothing quite like fresh beer straight from the tank! Since I had the beer last night, these notes are from my memory.
Aroma: Bread baking is the first thing that comes to mind. The beer has an intense malt aroma, slightly biscuity and some toasty notes. There's a background German hop aroma as well.
Appearance: Medium gold color. The beer has excellent clarity and a beautifully thick white head. The head was extremely large at first cause it was coming straight from the carbonation tank, but once the beer settled, it was the perfect pint.
Flavor: The biscuity sweet malt flavor is delicately balanced with the hop bitterness. Little detectable hop flavor, but that's appropriate for a Helles.
Mouthfeel: The thing I really loved about this beer is that the carbonation wasn't overwhelming. A lot of light lagers (especially the macros) have way too much carbonation in my opinion. The Hoffmann Helles had decent carbonation, but not over the top, leaving a creamy medium body that I wasn't expecting in a lager.
Overall Impression: I finished half a pint of this in like 3 minutes and easily could've drank a few more glasses. The Helles is incredibly easy drinking and a refreshing change from some of the "extreme" beers on the market. If anyone gets a chance to try some of Climax's beers, I'd highly recommend them. They're only sold in half-gallon growlers now (but through retail stores), but Dave indicated they're hoping to expand to 12oz bottles at some point.
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